New Delhi: A man has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Delhi court for killing his wife, who was against his extra-marital affair with her younger sister.
The court, however, spared the 27-year-old man of gallows observing that the murder was not committed in a "diabolic and cruel manner", so it "does not fall in the category of rarest of rare cases".

"Analysing facts of instant case...Apparently this is not a case where it can be said with certitude that the murder was committed in such a diabolical and cruel fashion that it shocks the conscience of society, nor does the nature of the crime and the circumstances of the offender reveal that the criminal is a menace to the society," Additional Sessions Judge Vijay Kumar Dahiya said.

The accused was arrested by the police in September 2012 after his elder brother had told the probe agency that his younger brother -- Latif -- had killed his wife.

The police further told the court that during the course of investigation, Latif confessed his guilt and said that it was his conspiracy to eliminate his wife Shama.

It said that Latif got married to Shama in 2006. However, after six months of their marriage, he fell in love with his wife`s younger sister.

The police said when Latif`s wife came to know about his extra-marital affair and his wish to marry her sister, she opposed it.

"He (Latif) loved his younger sister-in-law very much and wanted to marry her and he even tried to convince his wife on the pretext that if he marries her sister then both the sisters can live together but Latif`s wife had not agreed with him and she became very angry, whenever she heard these words from his mouth.

"Hence, Latif decided to eliminate his wife from the way and hatched a conspiracy and murdered his wife," police said.

However, during the trial Latif`s counsel said he has been falsely implicated and has not killed his wife.

The counsel further claimed that when Latif and his wife were sleeping in the night, some robbers entered into his house and during the incident his wife was murdered.

The counsel also said when he had tried to catch hold of those assailants, they threw chilli powder in his eyes and fled away.

The court, brushed aside submission of Latif`s counsel saying, "In my opinion the prosecution in the instant case has successfully established the presence of accused in his house when the murder of his wife was committed.

"It was for the accused to explain to the satisfaction of the court as to how and in which manner his wife was got killed and by whom. Since there is no explanation at all coming forth from the accused in this regard, the only logical conclusion which follows is that it is the accused himself, who murdered his wife i.e. deceased Shama," the judge added.